WesBrooks
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| posted on 2/7/15 at 07:52 AM |
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Distinction between M1 and N1 and seat belt mounts?
Hi All,
Couple of questions I hope you may be able to help with.
Bumpers: Is a Tubular section bumber that has the ends capped (45 degrees) and all edges radiied acceptable or do the ends need to turn in on
themselves?
Upper seat belt mounts: This refers to the upper guide that's normally above your right shoulder in the RHD car. Can this be bolted to a bracket
(5-10mm thick) which is edge seam welded to the roll cage or does it need to be the threaded sleaves welded at both ends?
M1 & N1: What makes a vehicle a Light Goods Vehicle? Mine will be a pick up under 3.5ton (1.8ish curb weight, no passengers, fuel, load etc.) but
may have four seats. I can't see the distinction in writing anywhere. I've head people talk about 2 seat only (what about the crew cab
vans?) and a certain percentage of the vehicle length for load bay.
N1: If you do get an N1 IVA does that mean 50mph on sigle carridgeways and 60 on dual carridgeways?
Thanks for any help you can offer. Not many people like to dicuss the IVA! I'm in the process of registering with the ACE forum too, but waiting
for my account to get activated.
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gremlin1234
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| posted on 2/7/15 at 05:54 PM |
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the current M1 test manual includes
on page 1 of forward
"At the request of the applicant a vehicle with at least 4 seats and a load area not exceeding 40% of the length of the vehicle and a weight
limit of 6500kg max mass may be classed as an M1 vehicle for the purpose of this manual"
but in any case, you are not looking to build a goods vehicle, so M1
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gremlin1234
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| posted on 2/7/15 at 09:41 PM |
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did a little more digging, and since
Registration of the Sahara is simple as it retains the original unmodified Discovery chassis and running gear
it shouldn't need IVA!, but I recommend build it to at least that standard!
[Edited on 2/7/15 by gremlin1234]
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WesBrooks
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| posted on 3/7/15 at 08:03 AM |
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Hello.
Thanks for the feedback. Yes the Sahara does not need an IVA in it's standard guise but I'm considering it because I'd like the
oprion of shortening the rear overhang. There is a large cover after the back tail gate which protrudes to the depth of a big spare wheel. Shortening
would also improve approach and departure angles. Any work on the chassis will need an IVA. Like you said though, whether I go for it or not I intend
to build it to pass the IVA.
The key bit in what you quoted was 'at the request of the applicant'. The distinction in the IVA guides between the two classes is vauge.
After much hunting around I've found someone else on a cycling forum discussing being caught speeding at 60 on a national speed limit single
carridgeway road. This is from construction and use 1986
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/renault-trafic-crew-vehicle-type-m1-or-n1
Here they talk about trying to get a currently N1 classifiaction re-classified as an M1. To do this their van would have to be classed as dual use. I
think the key things here for me are:
~ Unladen weight is less than 2040kg
~ the distance between the rearmost part of the steering wheel and the back-rests of the row of transverse seats satisfying the requirements specified
in head ... (or, if there is more than one such row of seats, the distance between the rearmost part of the steering wheel and the back-rests of the
rearmost such row) must, when the seats are ready for use, be not less than one-third of the distance between the rearmost part of the steering wheel
and the rearmost part of the floor of the vehicle.
So in a nut shell if the distance from my steering wheel to the back of my back seats is more than one third of the distance from the steering wheel
to the back of the car I'm fine as M1.
Having said that though the following bit gives me a little concern:
~ (i) be permanently fitted with at least one row of transverse seats (fixed or folding) for two or more passengers
So I may need to check the third rule to the back of the front seats.
There are a few reasons I was looking into this. Yes the test is slightly easier but I will be building my vehicle so I have the option of removing
the seat to carry large loads as and when I need to. I strongly suspect that two seats may spend the majority of their time in my garage! Therefore I
was concerned that as it appears to be a heavy duty pickup a fussy police office could have contested it's classification.
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